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Friday, March 27, 2015

I love BBQ food. I currently own a gas BBQ, which I use a lot to cook chicken wings, sausages, lamb cutlets and beef skewers. It's a good BBQ but definitely not as tasty as when the meat is cooked over coals. I used to have this tiny coal BBQ which did great satay sticks with a beautiful smoky flavour, but the pain in trying to get the coals lit meant I only used it at most twice a year. I made a big fuss when I would use it as it would take all day and was just a pain that the benefits of the flavour was not enough to make me use it often. Hence I'm am over the moon with what Heat Beads have come up with. Their new Heat Beads BBQ Chimney is such a simple design but a massive game changer in my mind. As an engineer, I'm totally in love with the design and the funcationality that I'm surprised no one has done it sooner. Gone are the days where I'm lighting a newspaper and some twigs to put under the coals and then fanning it constantly to get the coals lit. Now, it's so easy to get the BBQ fuel lit. All you do is place four Heat Beads Firelighter onto the Heat Beads BBQ Chimney Booster, light the Firelighters, place the Heat Beads BBQ Chimney with BBQ Briquettes over the top, turn on the booster (it uses 4 x AA batteries) and voila, in 12 minutes, all the BBQ Briquettes are completely lit. You then just pour the Briquettes into your BBQ (a Weber Kettle BBQ in this case) and start cooking.

Just watching this short video and you will see how easy it is. You can see teh full range of Heat Beads products here.

Being the engineer that I am, I actually timed how long it took to lig the BBQ Briquettes and it was 12 minutes plus minus 10 seconds. Obviously if conditions are different (more wind for example) it may be faster or slower give or take a minute. You know when the top Briquettes turn grey, it's all ready to go. From that point, the fun starts. You now can cook a million different things on the BBQ. Depending on what the items are, you can cook over direct heat or indirect heat. I tried a mixture of both.

My first test was to start with my favourite thing, chicken wings. There is no better thin in the my mind than smoky chicken wings. All I did was take the raw chicken wings and put it into the BBQ over indirect heat. Closed the lid of the BBQ and 30 minutes later they were all done. I brushed the wings with some Louisianna Hot Sauce mixture and put them over the direct heat for a minute or so just to help the sauce become stickier. The chicken wings were simply amazing and so tender. My mum couldn't believe it as normally we cook the wings until they're a bit burnt and dry on the gas BBQ.

Next up, I tried some pork ribs. Again I cooked it over the indirect heat for about an hour before coating it in a layer of BBQ sauce and cooking over direct heat for a minute. A second layer of BBQ sauce and some more cooking resulted in really beautiful ribs. The ribs are more like a pork chop texture if you cook for an hour. If you want the meat falling off the bone, another hour to hour and a half would do the trick.

The next week, I was so enthused that I threw everything at the BBQ. Again I got the Heat Beads BBQ Chimney Booster out, loaded it with the Firelighters and lit them, loaded up the BBQ Chimney with BBQ Briquettes and turned on the chimney. Second attempt, again about 12 minutes. On this week's menu was more seafood orientated. So there was prawns (5-10 minutes on direct heat), blue swimmer crabs (I lost track of time on this one but around 30 minutes I feel on indirect heat), Chinese lup cheong (just a few minutes on direct heat), corn (forgot to time) and Vietnamese pork skewers (15-20 minutes on indirect heat and finished off for a minute or so on direct heat for a bit of charring).

The food was all so good. I'm not a big fan of prawns but these BBQ ones were smoky goodness and really juicy still. The crabs were excellent. Normally I boil the crabs and they're a bit waterlogged but these weren't at all. My favourite by far were the chicken wings, pork ribs and Vietnamese pork skewers. These really benefit from the indirect heat as they didn't dry out at all and stayed super juicy and tender. The smoky flavour also really shines through in these items and I love it so much.

Once all the cooking is well and truly done, I used the cleaning brush to scrub the BBQ metal plate while there is still heat. All the black bits come right off so easily. Then when the Briquettes have all burnt out, you can just pour them into the bin, making sure they're completely cold as you don't want to start a fire in your bin.

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Sake Restaurant has been somewhere I've wanted to go after reading April's blog post about it. You know the story, so many new places in Melbourne that you tend to never get round to visiting the older places. So when I got an invite to try it, I was really excited to go. Sake is located in Hamer Hall of the Arts Centre and somewhere lots of people go for pre-show meals. It's also great for a lingering meal as the setting is so beautiful. Right next to the Yarra River, the restaurant gives you stunning views as there are floor to ceiling windows to maximise that view.

Photo courtesy of Thrive PR.

The style of food served at Sake is what you would say is modern Japanese. Use of classic Japanese flavours and techniques to create both traditional dishes and some newer dishes. My friend and I sampled a few different items from the different sections of the menu to get a feel for the overall food style.

Everything was of a really high standard and I liked it. Starting with the entrees, the sushi was very fresh and clean. The kingfish with jalapeno was a nice take on a fish dish, with great flavours. I absolutely loved the oysters served three ways, each very different and delicious. Lastly, the chicken karaage was beautifully crispy.

For the mains, the scallops were the real highlight. Plump, perfectly cooked scallops was served in this really silky cream. We both loved this dish. As for the braised pork belly, I rather liked it as it had a very distinctive flavour, but my friend wasn't as keen on it. To go with the mains, we had a seaweed salad, which was like none I've had before. Five styles of really different seaweed was presented, four of the five I liked. Really interesting to taste them back to back and see how different they were and the different flavours you can taste.

For desserts, they were both really different but both good. I think I got the better dessert of the peach with refreshing granita but my friend hates poached fruit so definitely thought she got the better dessert with the chocolate mousse and sesame ice cream. We were both happy thinking we got the better dish, so no food envy.

Service wise, our waitress was lovely and funny too. She made some jokes at the right time while helping us to navigate the menu and provide suggestions, such as the delicious sake I had. I love staff who can do this as they help to make the dining experience even better.

The ambiance in the restaurant is good, although as they always says, some seats are better than others. We were right in the corner that felt as if it was slightly disjointed from the rest of the room. There were three lonely tables there and I was envious of the people near the window. But you know, someone has to have the less than optimal tables at a restaurant so that's ok. Our seats meant we could be really loud and laugh and no one would notice.

All in all, I had a really great dining experience there and would recommend it for a special occasion, a casual meet up or a pre-show meal. Somehow the setup of the space lends itself to all these things, which is a real plus.

Thursday, March 05, 2015

This year, as part of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, I was invited to attend the Prahran Market 'Taste of Prahran Market' event. I've been to previous year's events at Prahran Market and they've been wonderful. You can check out Prahran Market Event 2013 and Prahran Market Event 2014. The idea of this year's event was that you had a book of vouchers, which you use to go collect items from all over the market. Armed with the book and a paddle board to hold the drinks and food, I-Hua, Aaron, Agnes and I started to plot out our strategy to #eatallthethings at the market.

Our strategy was to start with all the deli and seafood items first as they're lighter. So off we went to collect all the deli items. We didn't think that each item would actually consist of so much food, so we had to find a table to first eat the deli items. As we devoured the really delicious cured meats, pickled vegetables and cheeses, each of us would take turns to go grab more food while the others held the table. The oysters were super fresh and so good with the sriracha and lemon. Equally good were the skewers of grilled scallops and prawns, again so fresh. As we were near the pop-up restaurant area, we also go the empanadas. They were good but a bit salty.

Next up, we ventured back into the Blanco demo kitchen area to eat all the meats. We sampled everything and I absolutely loved the beef shaslik and the lamb kofta. The meats were so flavoursome. While eating our meats, we sampled more Punt Road wines and Nepoleon cider. The apple cider I had was so refreshing and I really enjoyed the Pinot Noir too.

Lastly, it was time for dessert. By this stage we were all struggling badly. There was just way too much food. But we pushed on and had some refreshing gelato, before taking home the baklawa and chocolate. I had those at home and loved them.

The event was such a great idea as it made you explore the market and learn about all the vendors. Everything was absolutely delicious and the event was well run. There weren't any real hiccups and people were clearly enjoying themselves. I highly recommend attending future events the market holds and coming to the market to pick up really high quality produce and food.

Thursday, February 12, 2015

When Australia Day was approaching, I wanted to attempt making a lamington as I had never made one before. But I didn't just want to do the typical one, so thought up an idea to combine both my Asian heritage and my Australian heritage. One night in my dreams (for real), I came up with the idea to make a pandan kaya lamington. It seems so obvious now as those two flavours work wonderfully together, and also the yellow kaya and green pandan would further signify the Aussie part as they're like the green and gold colours people use to support our sporting teams. I've tried two sponge recipes now. The first sponge recipe was too coarse. This second recipe gives a brilliant sponge but it's so fragile that it is harder to ice, but worth it I think. I've included the better tasting sponge recipe even if it is harder to work with.

Flavour and texture wise, this pandan kaya lamington creation is amazing if I say so myself. Everyone who I gave it to loved it so much I've re-made this a few times already. It's a very moreish cake and I find myself continually eating it.

You can eat the cake by itself or serve it with some simple vanilla ice cream, which makes it even more amazing.

TIPS
* Beat the eggs for the sponge for as long as you can before you get tired of waiting (about 15 minutes I found). It will really help to stabilise the sponge if the egg mixture is thick and fluffy.
* The sponge is very fragile so take care cutting it. Make sure you line the tin really well or it won't come out and will break apart.
* Stir the pandan fudge mixture until the custard powder is dissolved before heating it on the stove. Else you will get big lumps.
* When working with the pandan fudge, it's easier to work with it whilst it is hot but you may burn your fingers so be careful.
* Use a small butter knife to carefully spread the pandan fudge onto the lamgintons.

METHOD
1) Cream butter and sugar. Add vanilla, add eggs one at a time. Add flour alternatively with milk.
2) Pour mix into a greased lamington slab tin, 24cm by 30cm, and bake in a moderate oven for about 30 minutes. I found about 180C in my fan forced oven worked well.
3) After it's thoroughly cooled cut into 6cm square pieces. Wrap cake in foil and put in the fridge while you make the fudge.

1) Pour the whole bag of dessicated coconut into a big tray read to be used.
2) Take a piece of sponge cake and spread it thickly with a kaya jam. I just use a store bought one but you can make it yourself if you wish. Put another piece on top of the first sponge, creating a sandwich of sponge with the kaya in between.
3) Using a small butter knife, spread the pandan fudge all over the sponge sandwich.
4) Place the pandan iced sponge into the tray of dessicated coconut and cover liberally with coconut.
5) Place the finished lamington onto some baking paper to let it cool before serving.

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Expectations can sometimes dictate how good you perceived a meal to be. If you go in with super high expectations, more likely that not you will get disappointed. It's not to say that you shouldn't anticipate how good a place will be, just that it can taint your final judgement. I'll admit that when I got invited to go to The Railway Hotel in Windsor, my expectations weren't too high. This is nothing against The Railway Hotel, as I've never heard anything previously about them, but just my perception of most hotel food in general. Well, I am super happy to have my expectations blown out of the water as the meal at The Highline, the restaurant component of the The Railway Hotel, was amazing and in my Top 5 places for 2014.

The kitchen at The Highline is headed up by Simon Tarlington, of Quay experience and one of the finalists of the 2014 Young Chef of The Year awards. The food is definitely not your typical pub fare. It would easily sit amongst the top restaurants in Melbourne. The small space in The Highline restaurant is very cosy and each table feels nice in terms of where it is placed. My friend and I got the table near the window so it gave a nice view of Chapel street.

We didn't have to order as the chef was preparing a selection of dishes for us, starting with a little taster paddle consisting of numerous items. There was duck liver parfait, dehydrated oyster with a homemade bbq sauce, crispy chicken skin with pickles and some bresaola. Everything was so good, especially the oyster and chicken skin.

We moved from the tasters to a few different entrees. The first entree was some bread crumb crusted prawns with a prawn reduction and various vegetables. I absolutely loved this dish and I'm not even a fan of prawns. The various textures worked so well and the sauce with the prawns tasted so fresh, occasionally being complimented by crisp garlic plant stems I think. Whatever vegetables they were they worked a treat.

The next dish we had was my favourite of the night. It was Asparagus with Burnt Butter. Sounds so simple but the beautiful complexity in this dish was magic. I liken it to the Texture of Carrot dish I had to Cutler and Co. There was so many elements that made the dish sing in my mouth. There was sweet grilled asparagus with raw slivers of asparagus. A light burnt butter sauce covered some of the asparagus. There was a red jelly that gave sweetness. Then there was different textures of almond, raw and roasted. Then there was also something sour in the dish I think. Everything together just worked magically and one of my highlight dishes of this year.

The next entree was a plate of Wallaby "cooked" Two Ways. There was a wallaby loin I think, really well cooked. Then there were some tartare as well, with various different other flavours that brought it all together. Again another wonderful dish.

Fourth up for the entrees was a Pig Terrine, using all different cuts to create different textures, including a black pudding in the middle layer. It was served with a nice broth and crispy crackling. Despite my utter hatred of celery, the finely diced celery actually enhanced the dish and it didn't really taste like celery, if that makes any sense.

By this stage we were become pretty full but when the Beef Rump Cap came out, we were straight into it. The beef was served with another texture of beef and an amazingly smooth and buttery potato mash in a leek and a delicious jus. Another great dish I would happily eat again.

To finish the meal, we were presented with a Chocolate Dessert. Chocolate and desserts don't usually work for me, but this one was great. Chocolate mousse, chocolate sheets, crunchy elements and super fresh berries all created a wonderful dessert.

The whole meal totally was just absolutely stunning. I loved every dish and it's not too often I say that about a restaurant experience. I've already made plans to go back next year with a friend. Whilst this meal won't change my mind about all hotel restaurants, it has definitely changed my mind about this particular hotel restaurant and I can't recommend it enough. The paddock to plate philosophy adopted by the restaurant definitely shows as the produce tastes so good. Service wise, our waiter was really knowledgeable and personable. I also liked the ambiance as it was fun and casual despite the high end style food. Price wise, I think the food is great value as you would easily pay far more for such quality food elsewhere. A wonderful meal that I would recommend you go and try.

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

So yesterday the biggest buzz in Melbourne, at least among people with a culinary/dining interest, was the release of The Fat Duck reservation emails. If you're not familiar with the back story, basically Heston Blumenthal is bring his whole Fat Duck team to Melbourne to open a pop-up for 6 mmonths in Crown Entertainment Complex. From that point onwards, The Fat Duck will turn into Dinner, his other highly acclaimed restaurant. This means there is an extremely limited time to get a table at The Fat Duck.

I'm a huge fan of Heston's, which I'm sure many other people are too. I have an engineering and science background and combined with my love of food, he is my ultimate chef. One who creates amazing dishes using science. I'm a firm believer that all cooking is just science that is executed perfectly, and Heston proves that. I've watched all his shows and read his books and the science parts fascinates me no end. Back in 2010 when I went on a holiday through Europe, I had the option of dining at The Fat Duck but decided not to. I was thinking of the money as I didn't want to blow my holiday budget. So I picked to go to only one 3 Michelin star restaurant, Pierre Gagnaire in Paris. Whilst that meal was great, I really regretted not going to The Fat Duck as I think I would love the theatre and experimentation of Heston far more, even if the food wasn't all super delicious. The fact that he uses such different scientific techniques to create almost magical dishes is mind blowing enough.

So along with every other man and his dog, when The Fat Duck was announced to open in Melbourne, I was screaming with delight. The problem was, how do you fit more people into a restaurant than you can possibly hold. The answer, you hold a ballot. There was a two week expression of interest period, to which about 90,000 people entered their names for tables of 2, 4 and 6. As I read that the tables of 4 were the most available, I put in my entry for a table of 4, happy to dine at lunch or dinner, and to be on the wait list for last minute cancellations. I didn't care what I had to do, I wanted to go. And I'm so happy that I will be going, AUUUUUHHHHHHHH. I was jumping for joy yesterday and told everyone (in real life and on social media) when I got my acceptance email. Remember, this is just to say I can make a booking and have the privilege to pay a whopping amount of money for one single meal. Crazy right?

If you're not a big food lover, finding 3 other people to go to a super expensive meal with you would be hard. But as I associate with so many other food lovers, that's not a problem. I have the inverse problem of having now to reject many people who had assumed they were coming along to a minimum $525 meal. Yes, that's the cost without drinks or a tip. It's hefty that's for sure. And yes, I've heard many other people say that with that money they could eat loads of hamburgers, or dine at 3 fancy restaurants etc. Logically that all makes sense to me and I do agree with them. But at the same time I am still willing to spend that money and dine out at Heston's restaurant because no matter how many photos or stories I hear about The Fat Duck, experiencing it myself is a whole other matter. It may turn out to disappoint, or hopefully it will amaze. Regardless, I'll be happy that I tried. My view is that it is super expensive, but I can save for it and it's within my means. Hence I am willing to spend this money to gain an experience. If I applied logic to every decision I made, I wouldn't ever go on a holiday as it makes more sense to put that money into my mortgage and reduce the interest I pay dramatically. But that's not how humans work. We need to see some reward for our efforts or we give up. This to me, is a reward that I'm more than happy to pay for. Comparing the cost here to the cost in London (approximately $400 AUD) doesn't really make sense to me as I won't be going to London (or Bray more accurately) any time soon. The Fat Duck has come to my doorstep and I'm so happy I got a table. The email screenshot below confirms my ballot success, with a final payment confirmation and payment to come very soon. So I better hop on my bike and sort out who is coming with me and get money from them haha.

Are you lucky enough to also get a booking at The Fat Duck?
Would you have gone if you did get the booking?

Friday, October 31, 2014

I started this post ages ago and for whatever reasons I never got round to finishing it. Rather than just delete it, I thought I may as well post it and give you a feel for what The Atlantic Restaurant is like. The restaurant is located in the Crown Entertainment Complex along many other fine dining establishments. Whilst some people have an aversion to going to the Crown casino complex, for me, I'm happy to go there for good food. The Atlantic is owned and run by Donovan Cooke, the man behind many a fine establishment in the past. This restaurant has a focus on sustainable seafood, so the menu has a good selection of seafood.

I was lucky enough to be seated with Sarah, I-Hua, Aaron and my friend Eliott, who were willing to share their dishes. Hence I got a taste of every dish that we ordered.

The entrees were all really good, and I'm sure you'll find one dish to your liking. I think the standouts for me were the super fresh oysters and the crab mousse dish.

Despite the restaurant being more a seafood place, it does also serve steaks, and really good steaks at that. Of course, it's hard to go past the fish dishes, with the signature confit salmon dish being a highlight, along with hapuka, barramundi and whatever is fresh at the time and sustainably caught.

Deserts were all really good, with my favourite being the pistachio cassonade dessert which were a remainder of the time Philippa Sibley was the dessert chef.

We got to have a chat with Donovan and from the short conversation with him, I can see that he is still passionate about cooking, as well as his pursuit of quality, both in the ingredients and execution. Whilst he seems a hard man, he did tell us some funny stories and laughed really hard with us, which made me see the man behind the chef.

Overall, I thought the food was good and the restaurant would make a great location for any occasion. The decor is really beautiful and the view outside of the glass windows onto the Yarra is pretty spectacular. Obviously, the meal is priced towards the high end and expect to pay $150 or so if you have three courses with drinks. It's not for everyday but as an occasional visit, it's worth it, especially if you love seafood.